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I was feeling pretty bummed out the last two days. I've been reading too much news and consuming too much media outrage, politics etc. I'm American and not one who is inclined to a specific party, though I try to relate to each point of view including those with "hokier" views. Leaving out details so as not to make this a "political" discussion, I've felt disappointed by world leaders lately but even more disappointed by the way people in the world seem to be treating and judging each other based upon that someones outlook or convictions. It seems like us regular folk not running the show but just living our lives can't help but find reasons to be constantly angry and seeing the worst in each other. It's times like these where I really wish I could become a superhero alter ego like we discuss here and help to "change the world", make people believe in each other and give each other a break. I'm sure many people here can relate to this feeling. I don't have a dog in any political fight. I just wish there was a way I could overnight transform the way we see each other. I love here at NF that no matter where we are from, we all have a couple of things in common: we've made life decisions that are making us unhappy and we want to change them, we love stories of heroes and we want to be like them. I think that our focus on trying to better ourselves, serve each other within this community, cheering each other on is a seriously important element to why this place feels so safe. Anyway, that enough rambling on what's got me down today. Sometimes, the general anger and indifference being spouted into the world here in the US with the constant flow of drama, really makes me wish I could just grab these people and hug them and tell them I love them until they soften up. I'm already really distant from social media where the anger is most concentrated and toxic, but I'm feeling like I should dawn the mask and cape and start acting like a super hero in my community and bring people some love and cupcakes and tell them they're beautiful (especially those that I may feel less inclined to like). Holy shit what a ramble. I love all of you. I wish all of you success in your goals.

We are now entering winter. Usually in winter I dissolve into a pile of calories and weeping. Game plan: avoid that. So here's what we're doing. I'm dividing it into three categories: mind, body, and spirit. Mind: Discover new things. Read 2-3 nonfiction books this month. Continue the Great Musician Quest of 2017. (I have Apple Music now so sometimes I spend time wandering around "related artists" until I stumble into something new.) Time listening to music or podcasts doesn't count as "internet" time unless I'm actually surfing the Internet. Body: Try to maintain weight & momentum this month. Go to the gym 3-4x/week, preferably in the morning. Do my best to keep up those sick, sick gainz. Take progress shots to remind myself why I'm doing this. 1 dessert/day, max. Try to meal prep at least 2 meals/week. Spirit: Replace social media & mindless scrolling with things I care about. Do something creative every day. (Drawing, writing a tea or book review, crochet.) Outside of work, 1 hour on internet/day. 5 minutes on Facebook/day. Social media often leaves me feeling tense/jealous. I need to NOT. COOL IT WITH ONLINE SHOPPING, unless it's for someone else. (I don't have financial problems; I just have too much crap already.) AAAAND.... let's go!

So.. it's march. I don't believe I've lost any weight like I had planned to at the beginning of the year. It's very depressing. I work an office job then go attend meetings and then I travel weekly. So a lot of the time I'm sitting on my butt, basically. Now I am beyond discouraged.. It's been a viscous cycle of work, eat and sleep. When i'm not working, I'm sleeping, when i'm not sleeping, I'm eating. Today is just a really crappy day and could use some kind of motivation.. or something. I'd really just like to be home right now, in bed, sleeping.

☐ ☑ It is time. My birthday is coming up, a day of family and cake, and another of potluck and boardgames with friends and then I am officially a year older. Who would have thought? (What's with the English speaking side of the world continuing to pretend I were 29? What kinda BS is that? I LIVED those years. I EARNED those exp. Who dares try take that from me? -sometimes cultural differences are so hard.) Anyway Wednesday week 1 I am turning 33 and I love it. I am happy and proud to have run my very first Mud Run this past challenge. It was fun, and it was awesome, and if I'd done it alone, I would have been in trouble because lifting myself over things: still not awesome, but I wasn't and we had fun and it was good. Also, I jogged the whole thing. This challenge I am going to be playing with my head a bit. I will be cutting calories for a while there. I am planning for three weeks, but we'll see how it goes. It all depends on me writing down my fricking intake, obviously, and apart from the hunger grabbing me and me going after all kinds of edibles, I imagine, the logging is the thing that limits how long I can do this. The idea is to get used to cutting. For a limited time. So my mind learns: Yes it sucks, but it's not forever, and I'll be okay. Well here we go: week 1 don't eat like a dickhead but do enjoy your birthday. Log food. S☑ M☑ T☑ W☑ T☑ F☐ S☐ (total: ☑ ) week 2-4 log workouts and food calory deficite. S☐M☐T☐W☐T☐F☐S☐ S☐M☐T☐W☐T☐F☐S☐ S☐M☐T☐W☐T☐F☐S☐ (total: ☐☐☐) Go to fitness classes twice a week, only excuse: real sickness. ☑ ☐ ☐☐ ☐☐ ☐☐ (total: ☐☐☐☐) Go to dance class (☐ if no babysitter) ☐☐ ☐☐ ☐☐ ☐☐ (total: ☐☐☐☐) to do list - pending ☑ sign up for trainer licence classes ☐ get rid of the frikkin laundry ☑ get BabyMagneto through school visit ☑ get BabyMagneto to enjoy pool day in kindy logging but not graded: eat something good for you every day (aka the fruit and veggie thing): (total: ☐☐☐☐) ☑ ☑ ☑ ☑ ☐☐☐ ☑ ☑ ☑ ☐☐☐☐ ☐☐☐☐☐☐☐ ☐☐☐☐☐☐☐ continue water intake: (one ☑ per bottle (700ml) drunk, total: ☐☐☐☐) S☑☑☐ M☑☐☐ T☑☑☐ W☑☐☐ T☐☐☐ F☐☐☐ S☐☐☐ S☐☐☐ M☐☐☐ T☐☐☐ W☐☐☐ T☐☐☐ F☐☐☐ S☐☐☐ S☐☐☐ M☐☐☐ T☐☐☐ W☐☐☐ T☐☐☐ F☐☐☐ S☐☐☐ S☐☐☐ M☐☐☐ T☐☐☐ W☐☐☐ T☐☐☐ F☐☐☐ S☐☐☐ get enough sleep: (total: ☑ ☐☐☐) start: median 8h10m/night over the lat 14 days, goal: stay above 7h30=☑) ☑ ☑ ☑ ☐☐☐☑ ☐☑ ☑ ☐☐☐☐ ☐☐☐☐☐☐☐ ☐☐☐☐☐☐☐ So this is it. time to get moving again. Yes, I stole those boxes from you, @Rurik Harrgath, I can't imagine you mind, dear sir. On other fronts school restarts tomorrow, I need to mind my sleeping and get enough me-time, so mandatory reading time will be a thing... Love you folks. Katrin aka Morag

Main Quest Enjoy Every day of 2015 Current Quests 1 Pistol Squat 5s handstand 1 pull up 1 handstand push up Motivations be strong look good be a show off be happy be content have fun survive winter It's winter here now, and I just want to curl up under my doona until Spring returns. Unfortunately that's very unproductive and counter-intuitive, especially if I want to have an epically strong and shapely bod for when I can finally wear something that shows some skin without freezing my bits off. The lack of sun also makes me quite S.A.D, and I know this, so I'm taking it easy on myself and doing the bare minimum that I can and still feel like I'm doing good. Also things I know I should be doing but just don't. I just need to keep repeating my ideal habits until they are automatic and I don't have to angst over having to workout or do the damn dishes. Some quests are repeats from the last few, some are new because I need a change. QUEST ONE: Keep doing the moving about thing Bodyweight routine 2 days a week. Two days break in between for optimal rest (routine allowing). I'm trying to build strength here, no weight loss or meticulous calorie counting or anything. Just getting stronger and better at controlling my body, and proving to myself how awesome I can be if I put some effort in. My work schedule is all over the shop so I just need to fit in 1 hour of exercise two days a week around my work days. Probably going to end up being a week day and a weekend day. My current routine I've been doing for the past two challenges, and I still like it. It focuses on pushing, pulling, leg stuff and core stuff for some sort of coverage of all my limbs. As soon as I hit a plateau / feel too comfortable with an exercise, I'll change it up for something harder. This is where I'm at currently. Push: Decline Push ups. Going to work on getting my legs higher and get to doing handstand push ups. Well, and a handstand. xD Pull: Negative Pull ups. Following 50pullups.com, or near enough to it. Working towards an actual pull up. Legs: Bulgarian Split Squats with a 6kg dumbbell in each hand (12kg total). Working towards a pistol squat with some weight in my outstretched hands for balance. I can get down, but not up again at the moment! Core: Hollow Body Holds. Taken from GMB's handstand tutorial. Working on being able to hold my legs and arms out straight for a whole minute, then I'm moving to wall handstand things (I think) QUEST TWO: Do the sleeping thing. Between 8 - 8.5 hours sleep every night, preferably between 10pm - 6am. I've slept between 10pm - 6am every night this week and I've definitely noticed a more steady energy level during the day, especially while I'm at work. I can't afford to be exhausted from lack of sleeping (waitressing is hard enough) so I'm making this a thing that I have to stick to. Just getting 8 hours sleep is acceptable on the weekend (in case I stay up late or want a sleep in on days I don't have to work / workout) Should also help me be less S.A.D. QUEST THREE: Spread the discipline QUEST FOUR: Be nice to yourself every day! TL;DR; QUEST 1: Bodyweight sessions 2x a week. QUEST 2: Sleep between 8 - 8.5 hours every night. QUEST 3: 20 minutes of doggy play time daily. QUEST 4: Do something selfish daily. Quests 3 & 4 cancelled due to life. xD

This is a new group, and I am open to suggestions - so pipe up and let me know how this group can be made better so that YOU can stick with the challenge and overcome the barriers that hold you back. This group is for people who suffer from depression in all its forms. Seasonal affective disorder. Clinical depression. The "blues". Or as my friend Lycan Thom calls it - The Black Dog. I always thought that I was alone .... or relatively rare .... in suffering from SAD while trying to workout and eat right. And then when I became an ambassador and started seeing so many new people posting about how depression kept them from making changes in their lives, I decided to try making an accountability group for those of us who suffer with depression. Depression ...... It's a chemical imbalance in the brain that can leave sufferers barely able to function in their daily lives let alone find the energy to make significant life changes. BUT we CAN make progress. We CAN learn to recognize when the dog has us by the nape of the neck ... or even anticipate an attack before it hits ..... and we CAN make changes that will lessen it's negative influence over our lives. We CAN tame the beast and become its master. Together. So, if you want support from people who are going through similar struggles - this is the place. I'm no expert on the subject - just a fellow sufferer who has figured out some tricks to keep that ol' puppy at heel most of the time. If you join this group, I'll ask that you check up on fellow members at least weekly. For some people in the southern hemisphere, this is winter, and they need us to help lighten their days big time. I will ALSO have a weekly topic for us to think and post about - these are all optional. Respond and share if you feel comfortable in doing so, but don't feel that you must join in that part of the discussion. AND - if you join, ask for help when you need it!! That's often one of the hardest things for us to do - to recognize when we're slipping and need a hand. Practice asking here. So, sign up on the accountabilities spreadsheet and post here with a link to your challenge thread if you are "in"!!! I'll create a roster of people and their thread links. I will also make a placeholder post for each week's discussion topic and update those as the challenge progresses.